Closer Wars - 1990 Edition

1998 had a lot of cool things that 1990 just didn’t have.  It had the internet, or a lot more internet that any internet that was around in 1990.  It didn’t have YouTube quite yet, but there was probably some sort of video thing around that would take 3 or 4 hours to download on dial up.  And it had Semisonic and their song “Closing Time”.  Had all of that been around eight years earlier, you could have very easily put together a video montage of the epic battle to be the best American League closer of 1990.

Dennis Eckersley is a fairly well known baseball player.  I’m guessing if you went around asking random people who Dennis Eckersley was, you’d get a decent response.  Bobby Thigpen is not a well known baseball player.  If you asked about him, you’d probably get responses like “wrestling heel”, “congressman” or “plumber”.  But there was a time when the greatest baseball minds ever assembled, the BBWAA, thought more of Bobby Thigpen than Dennis Eckersley.  And that year was 1990.

I don’t think that anyone is going to argue that Bobby Thigpen was better than Dennis Eckersley, not even Bobby Thigpen’s mother.  But in Cy Young Award voting in 1990, he received 20 votes – even 2 first place – versus Eckersley’s 2 votes.  Let’s delve into why, apparently, Thigpen was 10 times better than Eckersley that year.

Before we begin, perhaps it would be best to take a look at the Cy Young Award voting that year.  One reason why Eckersley was so low despite having a very respectable season was the dreaded “split vote”.  As referenced in my previous post, writers love pitchers with 20+ wins.  That year, A’s pitcher Bob Welch went 27-6, and that pretty much settled that.  It was the most wins since Steve Carlton won 27 in 1972, and those are the closest seasons to the 30 win mark since it was last accomplished by Denny McLain’s 31 in 1968.

Roger Clemens was second in voting going 21-6, but since he was on the juice, and doesn’t fit this article anywhere, we’re just going to leave him be.

Third place was occupied by A’s pitcher Dave Stewart.  He went 22-11, putting the finishing touches on his fourth straight campaign with 20 or more wins in which he had 41 complete games.  That left Eckersley in fifth place in the voting.  One spot behind Bobby Thigpen.

Welch and Stewart took care of business for the most part for the A’s in 1990 as they went on their way to getting swept by the Cincinnati Reds in the World Series.  That team won 103 games, and Eckersley saved 48 of them.  After all, someone had to bail out Scott Sanderson, Mike Moore and Curt Young.  Remember, this was a couple of years before can’t miss, all world prospect Todd Van Poppel would come along.  But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Let’s look at the stats of these epic closers of 1990.

	W-L	G	IP	BB	K	H	R	ER	HR	ERA	ERA+	WHIP	SO/ BB	SV
Thigpen	4-6	77	88.2	32	70	60	20	18	5	1.83	211	1.038	2.19	57
Eckersley	4-2	63	73.1	4	73	41	9	5	2	0.61	603	0.614	18.25	48

In looking at these numbers, there’s no real comparison here.  Eckersley was clearly the superior player.  Oh, but he didn’t have as many saves.  And Thigpen didn’t just have more saves than Eckersley.  He had more saves in a season than anyone else ever had, eclipsing Dave Righetti’s former record of 46 set in 1986.  To this day, it still stands as the second most ever, only passed by Francisco Rodriguez with 62 in 2008.

So who was this Thigpen character we’ve been talking about?  Let’s get to know him.

'87 in Memphis was
a CRAZY time.

Thigpen was drafted by the White Sox in the fourth round in 1985 out of Mississippi State University.  Hmm.  Something in the back of my mind said to look into that a little more.  Ah, there it is.  You may have heard of some of his teammates at Mississippi State that were also drafted that year.  A guy named Will Clark and Rafael Palmeiro.  Maybe even Jeff Brantley.  But probably not Michael Thiesen, Dan Van Cleve or Gene Morgan.

In his first year in the minors, he was pretty decent.  He had 9 saves and 1.72 ERA.  Then the White Sox tried him out as a starter in 1986.  That went about as well as you think that it would.  He ended up 8-11 with a 4.68 ERA, and had 54 walks to 90 strikeouts in almost 160 innings pitched.  The White Sox were on their way to finishing 72-90 though, so they figured they’d go ahead and call him up.  Some fellow named Bob James, if that is his real name, is listed as the “closer” for that year.  He had 14 saves and a 5.25 ERA.  It looks as if “Bob James” must have had an injury late that season, whether real or created, as he only had one appearance after August 4^th.

The other options the Sox had that year weren’t all that great either.  Better than “James”, but apparently not better than an untested rookie.  Thigpen debuted on August 6^th that year and went on to save seven games between August 17^th and September 17^th.  He also blew the last four save attempts he had on that season, but even with that, his ERA was only 1.77.

In 1987, he started the year in Chicago, but had a stint from late May through mid July in AAA Hawaii.  The White Sox apparently wanted to double check he wasn’t a starter.  In 9 games, all starts, he was 2-3 with a 6.15 ERA (although he did throw 2 complete games and a shutout).  Although he was officially listed as the closer that year, leading the team with 16 saves, he was more of a multiple innings guy than a true closer.  In his 51 games, he only was called upon to pitch an inning or less 14 times.  In those 51 games, he threw 89 innings.

From 1988 through most of 1992, Thigpen had officially cemented his role as the closer.  He would save 34 games apiece in 1988 and 1989, although watching him in these save attempts must have been fun, at least if you were a fan of the opponent.  His ERAs those years were 3.30 and 3.76.  His WHIPs those years were 1.29 and 1.43, and his combined win-loss record was 7-14.  1988 saw 33 walks vs. 62 strikeouts in 90 innings.  1989 saw it narrow to 40 walks vs. 47 strikeouts 79 innings…with 10 home runs allowed.

But then 1990 came along.  “Bob James” was out of baseball.  So Thigpen was once again the man.

Nothing that happened in April that year indicated that Thigpen was about to set an all time record.  He finished that month 1-1 with a 2.53 ERA and five saves vs. one blown save.  His WHIP that month was 0.882 though, and the only runs that he gave up on the month came from a walk and two home runs on April 24^th.

In May, as the weather warmed up, so did he.  He notched 11 saves that month vs. two blown saves.  He went 1-1 with a 1.80 ERA and 0.833 WHIP.  Six of those saves came between May 21^st and May 30^th.

June was another pretty good month.  He saved another 10 games with only one blown save.  He went 1-0 with a 1.42 ERA, but a WHIP of 1.21.  Still, up to this point in the season, he had only given up three home runs, and had 33 strikeouts to 15 walks.

July wasn’t kind to Bobby Thigpen.  He only had six saves vs. one blown save.  He went 1-2 with an ERA of 2.57 and WHIP of 1.544.  With only two months to go in the season, he had 32 saves.

Then came August, specifically August 2^nd.  On that day, Thigpen saved both games of a double header, which would kick off a month in which he would have 13 saves vs. two blown saves.  He would go 0-2 with a 2.65 ERA and WHIP of 1.152.  In 16 games, he threw 17 innings and had 15 strikeouts vs. five walks.  He was now sitting within one save of the all time record.

That record would be tied on the first day of September.  He would save another 12 games vs. only one blown save, which was actually the second to last game of the season.  He was mostly lights out that month with a 0.56 ERA and a WHIP of 1.00.  However, the White Sox would finish with an excellent 94-68 record that year, which was not really anywhere close to Oakland.  You see kids, back in those days, we only had two teams from each league make the playoffs.

1991 was a lot more 1988/1989 than 1990 for Thigpen.  He would save 30 games with a 3.49 ERA with a 1.45 WHIP with 47 strikeouts vs. 38 walks in 69 2/3 innings and 10 home runs allowed.

1992 started off as classic Thigpen.  Through July 1^st, he was 0-2 with 19 saves, which would put him right on pace for his 5^th straight season of 30 or more saves.  He had only given up one home run too.  His ERA stood at 2.78, although his WHIP was sky-high at 1.694.

Ahem, that's RISING STAR
Scott Radinsky.

Unfortunately, that’s when the wheels came off.  REALLY came off.  He did already have four blown saves through that point of the season.  He’d get another three before he earned his next save 27 days later.  But by that time, he had already lost the closer role to Scott Radinsky.  The rest of the season, he was mainly used in lower leverage situations.  He would only have four more saves the rest of his career.

1993 marked the end of his tenure in Chicago.  Before being traded to the Phillies, he had one save, one blown save, and one win.  His ERA was now up to 5.71 and WHIP was 1.817.  Though he tried his damnedest, he wasn’t able to derail the ’93 Phillies run to the World Series.  He did go 3-1, but had no saves and a 6.05 ERA with a 1.655 WHIP.  He did pitch non-horribly in his only playoff appearances of his career that year.

1994 saw him transition back to the AL, this time with the Seattle Mariners.  After 7 games, an 0-2 record, a 9.39 ERA, a 2.217 WHIP, 7 2/3 innings, 3 home runs allowed, well, you get the idea.  On April 27^th Thigpen would give up 3 runs in 2 1/3 innings to the Yankees.  Despite not being the worst pitcher for the Mariners that day (that honor would go to starter Dave Fleming who would give up 5 runs in 2 2/3 innings), that was the last game that Thigpen would ever pitch.  At age 30, he was done.

Thigpen would end his career with 201 saves.  At the end of the 1994 season, that would have placed him 15^th all time.  Since the closer position was just becoming specialized, ironically in large part through Tony LaRussa’s innovation with Eckersley, that now ranks 44^th all time.

IT BOGGLES THE MIND

Whoa.  It boggles the mind!  What if…what if, instead of firing Tony LaRussa in early 1986, the White Sox kept him as manager, and he then honed his closer-usage skills on…Bobby Thigpen?  Now, back to the blog.

So now we know about Bobby Thigpen.  What about this Eckersley character?

Before Dennis Eckersley was an excellent closer, he was a pretty good starter.  He was drafted in the third round in 1972 by the Cleveland Indians out of Washington Union HS in Fremont, CA.  To this date, he is the Huskies’ only Major League player ever.

After toiling in the minors for three seasons, he was brought up for the 1975 season.  That year, he went 13-7 with a 2.60 ERA in 34 games, 24 which were starts.  He threw six complete games and had two shutouts.  He also picked up the first two saves of his career that year.  Those are pretty decent numbers, especially for a rookie.  That year, he got no love from the Rookie of the Year voters.  Most baseball fans know that 1975 was the year that Fred Lynn went off to the tune of 7.3 WAR.  He received 23.5 out of 24 first place votes.  The other half went to teammate Jim Rice.  The dreaded split vote rears its ugly head again!  For good measure, Lynn won the MVP award as well.

The following season, Eckersley had another pretty decent season, going 13-12 with a 3.43 ERA in 36 games, 30 of which were starts.  This included nine complete games and three shutouts.  He also threw in another save for good measure.  He had exactly 200 strikeouts that year, the only year he’d break that mark in his career.

Man, we’ve got a LONG way to go to get to 1990, so I’m going to just give a couple of summaries here.

He would have one more season in Cleveland where he would make the All Star team before being traded to the Boston Red Sox just days before the season started in March 1978.  His first year in Boston saw him finish fourth in the Cy Young Award voting.  He’d follow that up with a seventh place finish in 1979.  

The rest of his years in Boston saw him hover around the .500 mark, going 43-48 overall with a not-great-for-the-era ERA of 4.43.  On May 25, 1984 he was traded with Mike Brumley to the Chicago Cubs for…Bill Buckner.

While Buckner would go on to receive death threats, Eckersley had pretty much his typical years in Chicago.  He went 27-26 for the Cubs, with a 3.63 ERA.  Whether he knew it or not though, his days as a starter were almost done.  Again, days before the season started, this time on April 3, 1987, he was traded to the A’s with Dan Rohn for Brian Guinn, Dave Wilder and Mark Leonette.

When Eckersley arrived in Oakland, it’s almost like they had no idea what to do with him.  His first six games that season were out of the bullpen, where he had one save, one blown save, and two holds.  His next two games were also out of the bullpen, but he pitched 6 innings in one game and 4 1/3 in the other, earning wins in both games.  On May 6^th, he would make his first start of the season, getting a loss to the Red Sox.  Let’s send him back to the bullpen!

He would throw six more games out of the bullpen before making the start on May 31^st, which would be his last start of the season, and career.  He’d make 4 more appearances out of the bullpen before becoming the (maybe?) closer.  He picked up a couple of saves in June, four more in July and August, and finished with five more in September to finish the season with 16 saves.

Once the A’s looked at his overall numbers, they may have realized what they had.  He finished the 1987 campaign with only a 6-8 record, but his ERA was 3.03, his WHIP was 1.003, and he had 17 walks vs. 113 strikeouts.

1988 saw Eckersley transform into full blown kick ass, take names closer.  He even flirted with history himself that year, falling just short of the saves record with 45.  He wasn’t quite untouchable, as he did blow eight saves that year, but he was still good enough to finish second to 24 game winner Frank Viola.  He pitched in 60 games that year, throwing 72 2/3 innings with a 2.35 ERA and 0.867 WHIP.  He only gave up five home runs that year, with 11 walks vs. 70 strikeouts.  He also made the All Star team for the third time in his career and finished fifth in the MVP race.  But Kirk Gibson cared about none of this, and decided to make his home run the most remembered thing about Eckersley in 1988.

1989 saw him continue his newfound dominance.  While he did have a DL stint for most of June and early July, he still finished with 33 saves and an ERA of 1.56 to go along with a WHIP of 0.607.  In 51 games, he threw 57 2/3 innings.  He gave up five home runs, only walked THREE batters and struck out 55.  That was good for a BB/K ratio of 18.33.  While he didn’t make the All Star team, mainly due to the DL stint, he finished sixth in the Cy Young voting and had another fifth place finish in the MVP race.

And now, what you’ve all been waiting for, Dennis Eckersley’s 1990 season.  In 1990, Eckersley broke Dave Righetti’s all time saves record of 46.  But because of the before mentioned Thigpen, his total was still only good for second all time.  He would only blow two saves the entire season, and one of those was in a game where he gave up four runs, none of which were earned.

April of 1990 was about as perfect as you can get for Eckersley.  In eight games, he finished the month with a 1-0 record and seven saves.  He had an ERA of 0.00 and WHIP of 0.500.  He had no walks and nine strikeouts in 10 innings pitched.

May of 1990 was more of the same.  In ten games, he was 1-0 with eight saves.  His ERA that month was 0.77 after giving up one run in 11 2/3 innings.  His WHIP was 0.600.  Again, he had no walks and 15 strikeouts.  At this point, he was one save behind Thigpen’s pace.

June of 1990, well, at this point we’re a broken record.  He was 0-1 with nine saves.  His ERA that month was again 0.77.  In 11 games, he threw 11 2/3 innings and had a WHIP of 0.857.  Of all of his walks he had on the season, half came in June.  He had TWO.  He added another eight strikeouts.

July was the worst month of the season for Eckersley.  He was 0-1 with eight saves and gave up two earned runs in ten games and 11 innings pitched.  His ERA was 1.64 and his WHIP was 0.273.  He had one walk vs. 12 strikeouts.  And that was his worst month.

August of 1990 saw him return to form.  He was 1-0 with eight saves.  His ERA was 0.64 with a WHIP of 0.571.  He threw 14 innings in 11 games, and didn’t have a walk vs. 13 strikeouts.  At this point, he was six saves off of Thigpen’s pace.

As the A’s wrapped up their division championship in September of 1990, Eckersley showed no sign of slowing down.  He was 1-0 with eight saves.  He had and ERA of 0.00 and WHIP of 0.667.  He had one walk vs. 16 strikeouts.

Of his four walks on the season, one of them was intentional.  If he didn’t have that one, his BB/K ratio would have been 24.33.  Instead, it was just 18.25.  1990 was the first of three straight All Star appearances.  As mentioned before, he was fifth in the Cy Young voting, and sixth in the MVP race.  Since he didn’t pitch enough innings, he couldn’t qualify for any sort of record season with his 603 ERA+, which takes into account a player’s ERA vs. the league and adjusted for ballpark considerations.  Just to let you know, the all time single season record for ERA+ was 293 set by Tim Keefe in 1880.  Second place?  Previous blog focus Pedro Martinez with 291 in 2000.

YOUR NAME IS NOT JACK BROWN

The next two years in Oakland saw continued dominance for the most part from Eckersley.  He went 12-5 with a 2.42 ERA and 0.910 WHIP.  He had 94 saves in 136 games and 156 innings.  He had 20 walks (nine intentional) vs. 180 strikeouts.  He somehow won the Cy Young Award in 1992 despite not winning 20 games like second place finisher Jack McDowell, 21 games like fifth place finisher Jack Morris, and 21 games like sixth place finisher Jack Brown.  Oh wait, Johnny Cash said his name is not Jack Brown.  It’s KEVIN Brown.

His last three years in Oakland saw age catching up with Eck.  He was still a workhorse at the back end of the pen throwing 161 2/3 innings in 161 games, but he had a 4.40 ERA and 1.274 WHIP.  He had 84 saves and walked 37 vs. 167 strikeouts.

The next two years saw him change leagues, joining the not-quite-ready for primetime St. Louis Cardinals.  In his tenure there, he went 1-11 with a 3.58 ERA and 1.133 WHIP.  In 113 innings over 120 games, he walked 14 and struck out 94.

For his farewell tour season in 1998, Eckersley returned to Boston.  He had a horrible April, giving up 11 runs in 8 innings for an ERA of 12.38, but from May 1^st on, it was only 2.84.  He would earn the final save of his career on May 15^th.  He made his final appearance on October 2^nd in a playoff game against the Indians, entering in the 9^th inning and giving up a run making the score 4-1.  The Red Sox scored two runs in the bottom of the 9^th but fell just short, losing 4-3.

Eckersley would go on to be elected into the Hall of Fame the first year he was on the ballot in 2004.  He would finish his career with a 197-171 mark, and even 100 complete games with 20 shutouts, 390 saves and 2401 strikeouts vs. just 738 walks.

So there you have it.  1990 was an all out assault on the major league saves record.  Of the top two save totals each year, Thigpen and Eckersley’s combined save total of 105 still ranks third all time.  Francisco Rodriguez (62) and Jose Valverde (44) combined for 108 in 2008, and John Smoltz (55) and Eric Gagne (52) combined for 107 in 2002.  While the greatest memory I’ll have of Eckersley is Gibson’s home run, when I think of Thigpen, I’ll always think of 57.  So you have that going for you, Bobby.